Ireland's health services have been working for many years to improve care, provide better value, and ensure patient safety and quality. The key to achieving these goals, both now and in the future, is digital health.
A digital health care framework for Ireland
The Department of Health recently introduced the 'Digital for Care 2030 – Driving Government’s Digital Strategy for Ireland’s Health Service to 2030.' This framework aims to use digital technology to improve health services and make them more accessible to patients. It is supported by steady funding and staffing. Working together with the department, the HSE has also released a new plan that outlines how digital tools will shape the future of healthcare in Ireland. This is done through our Digital Health Strategic Implementation Roadmap.
The plan is based around 6 pillars of activity.
The pillars of Digital for Care 2030
The pillars of Digital for Care 2030 give us focus when delivering its various features, they are:
- patient as an empowered partner
- workforce and workplace
- digitally enabled and connected care
- data driven services
- digital health ecosystem and innovation
- secure foundations and digital enablers
The 6 principles of Digital for Care 2030
Better health results are made possible by seamless, safe, and secure digital health services that support existing health services.
Digital for Care 2030 is driven by 6 principles that ensure a seamless and secure delivery.
These principles are to:
- improve delivery of safe patient care
- deliver better health outcomes and access to care
- make all relevant data available to patients to manage their health more effectively
- allow for more capacity in our health services
- reduce hospital admissions
- reduce the cost of care
Key areas
Key areas that Digital for Care will focus on:
- HSE app, giving patients access to their own health information
- shared care records, a summarised digital record of patient health information
- electronic health record of all patient health information which can be shared across the health region
- diagnostics programme, delivering a modern diagnostics system for health professionals which will allow them to share information with colleagues easily
There are many benefits to both patients and staff.
Benefits
For Patients:
- improved results for patients by reducing risk
- making sure services are accessible to those who need them most
- helping keep patients out of hospital when they don’t need to be there
- improved patient experience with less time waiting for services
- less duplication of care and advanced scheduling of appointments
- easier access to healthcare in local communities and at home through virtual healthcare and monitoring
For Staff:
- access to the patient information
- more time for clinical staff to focus on clinical activities and patient care, and less time on administrative tasks
- employee retention
- improved communication across care providers, benefiting both clinicians and patients.
- better decision-making
A joint effort
Technology alone will not drive Ireland’s digital health – it needs people.
The promise of digital health transformation needs everyone to work together through awareness, education and participation.
More information
More information can be found on ehealthireland.ie
Email: digitalforcare@hse.ie